Image via Complex Original
In the '70s and '80s, most cars really, really sucked. Almost all of the designs were overly boxy, many were poorly proportioned, and performance was, for the most part, terrible. Strict emission requirements due to the clean air act amendments of 1970 prevented car manufactures from being able continuing to put out the fast and popular muscle and sports cars of the ‘60s. Nothing was fast, but in those years, the decision had been made— environmental protection was more important than fast cars.
In the '90s things changed a lot, and definitely for the better. Designers put down the straight edge and the T-square model and began to use curves again. Consumers benefited greatly, with manufacturers producing mass market cars that were mechanically simple, safer than ever (due to the rise of the airbag), and also surprisingly fun to drive. Electric cars, which hadn’t really been seen since the mid 1800s began their climb back into the the mainstream. Technology finally caught up to the engine emissions requirements, which led to something that had been sorely missed, extremely fast cars, but now they were faster than anything that the world of the ‘60s could bring to the table. The idea of what was required for a car to be considered truly fast had changed for good. The '60s may have been a golden age of motoring and motorsport, but we'd argue that the '90s represent the dawn of a new one, one that is not only much easier on the environment, but also lets the average consumer go from 0 to 60 in a time that would boggle the minds of car enthusiasts of the ‘60s. Without further ado, these are The Best 90s Cars.
25. Hummer H1
Year: 1992
Engine: 6.2L Diesel V8
Power: 165 hp
Cool Fact: With this original engine the Hummer could go anywhere, just not quickly; 0-60 mph took over 20 seconds.
Yes, the military Humvee was made into what could have been the world's worst SUV for the road at the request of a certain Arnold Schwarzenegger. Although it was loud, uncomfortable, and made conversation impossible by placing a massive engine between the driver and the front passenger, it also destroyed any off road trail and has more presence than anything else on the road. This is the only real Hummer.
24. Lexus LS400
Year: 1990
Engine: 4.0L V8
Power: 250 hp
Cool Fact: Development for the 1990 LS started in 1983 under the code name "Flagship."
The Lexus LS400 proved that Luxury was not totally the domain of Europeans. Yes, the S-Class was big, comfy, quiet, and luxurious, but the big Lexus was too. The big Lexus also featured Toyota reliability, which appealed to those who bought earlier Toyotas, loved them, and were now entering the luxury market.
23. Ford Ranger
Year: 1993
Engine: 2.3L I4 to 4.0L V6
Power: 100 to 160 hp (more after the '90s)
Cool Fact: Orkin, the exterminator company, bought the last Ranger ever made.
The second-generation Ford Ranger was introduced in 1993 and it lasted until 2012 before being discontinued. We still pine for a proper compact truck, since the F-150, while great, is way bigger than necessary for most jobs that people use trucks for. The Ranger was perfect for handymen, guys who frequent hardware stores, exterminators, light towing, many contractors, but the American market judges a truck based on size, not sense.
22. Lincoln Navigator
Year: 1998
Engine: 5.4L V8
Power: 300 hp
Cool Fact: This was Lincoln's first and best SUV.
The Lincoln Navigator was Lincoln's last hit, and was rolling at the peak of the SUV craze. It was huge, luxurious, blinged-out, and absolutely unconcerned with anything but stunting. It has attitude, and that's something that the rest of Lincoln's line up seriously lacks.
21. GMC Syclone/Typhoon
Year: 1991
Engine: 4.3L Turbocharged V6
Power: 280 hp
Cool Fact: Although the V6 in these cars was rated at 280 hp, many stock cars have dynoed in more than 300 horses.
You get a two-for-one here: The GMC Syclone, a turbocharged and slammed truck, came first in '91 and an SUV version called Typhoon followed in '92 and '93. Either way, buyers got a surprisingly fast and powerful vehicle that surprised many of the uninitiated at the lights.
20. Nissan 300ZX
Year: 1990
Engine: 3.0L V6 With Optional Turbocharger
Power: 222/300 hp
Cool Fact: The 300ZX was on Car & Driver's 10 Best list for seven years.
The second-gen 300ZX wasn't as clean of a design as the first, but it was awesome enough on track to be named Motor Trend's Import Car of the Year. The 300ZX really showed how much computers could do to make cars better, as it was one of the the first cars to be made with a CAD program and was loaded with computer-controlled features like four-wheel steering.
19. BMW M5
Year: 1998
Engine: 4.9L V8
Power: 400 hp
Cool Fact: Rumor has it that BMW was originally content with the 5-Series' performance, but felt the M5 was necessary after seeing Jaguar's XJR
The E39 BMW M5 was exactly what an M5 is supposed to be: a very powerful, fun sports car that can be justified to one's wife when shopping, because it's a big family sedan. A big family sedan that can manage a 0-60 sprint in less than five seconds.
18. Ford F-150 SVT Lightning
Year: 1999
Engine: 5.4L Supercharged V8
Power: 360 hp
Cool Fact: The SVT Lightning used the transmission from the V10 SuperDuty truck, because the regular F-150 gearbox would have exploded.
Today's SVT-tuned F-150 is an off-road monster, but in 1999 it was an unlikely drag strip destroyer. The supercharged V8, aero kit, and lowered suspension turned what was otherwise a practical truck into a crazy person's version of an Australian sport-ute. 'Merica loved it.
17. BMW M Coupe
Year: 1998
Engine: 3.2L I6
Power: 240 hp
Cool Fact: Due to its weird profile, many call this the "clown shoe" today.
For whatever insane reason, BMW's M Sport division has always shied away from the Z-line of roadsters, which seem to us like the most obvious candidates for tuning. While turning the fantastic Z3 into a track-ready monster, the engineers at M decided a roof for better rigidity would be a good idea, and surprised everybody by making the little roadster into a hatchback. Some mocked it, but they couldn't keep up, so the mocker didn't have to be heard by the drivers for long.
16. Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor
Year: 1992
Engine: 4.6L V8
Power: 210 hp
Cool Fact: The CVPI was the last rear-driven Ford sedan sold in America.
The CVPI, you know its headlights immediately, and they strike fear into your heart. This isn't just a cop car, it's the cop car. Not only did any given CVPI serve for hundreds of thousands of miles as well as any officer, but after retirement, many of them went on to log a few hundred thousand more as taxis. These were tough cars.
15. Buick Roadmaster
Year: 1991
Engine: 5.7L V8
Power: 260 hp
Cool Fact: The Roadmaster could tow up to 5,000 lbs.
If you were an American kid in the '90s, you probably spent some time in one of these and didn't think much of it. What we know now is that there was once a time when any given American mom had a rear-wheel-drive car with a big American V8 powering it. That's so much cooler than the Corolla she's driving now.
14. Ford Mustang SVT Cobra
Year: 1993
Engine: 5.0L V8
Power: 235 hp
Cool Fact: In order to improve handling, SVT actually softened the suspension, when compared to the Mustang GT.
In the '90s we were cruelly deprived of Shelby Mustangs, but at least Ford's Special Vehicles Team—it's like the Special Victims Unit but with more burnouts and less sex crime—gave us the brilliant SVT Cobra. This was a Mustang that had been pumped up to hold its own against just about any sports car on the planet.
13. Ferrari 500
Year: 1996
Engine: 5.5L V12
Power: 485 hp
Cool Fact: 448 550 Barchettas were made, because Japanese superstition considers 444 to be an unlucky number.
People seem to forget that Ferrari makes fantastic grand tourers. Yes, the mid-engined, sport-focused models are fantastic, but some of the best cars to ever come out of Maranello have been more at home on California's Pacific Coast Highway than Laguna Seca. The 550 is one of those cars, and one of the most timeless designs of the decade to boot. Although many '90s cars either look like a dingle left over from the thunder-crap that was '80s design or a blurry photo of a great design, this just looks elegant, aggressive, and sporty.
12. Nissan Skyline
Year: 1993
Engine: 2.0L to 2.8L I6
Power: 128 to 400 hp
Cool Fact: The LSD available in the Skyline caused a light to flash when it was active.
Sure, the base R33 Skyline only made a paltry 128 horsepower, but everybody knew that that engine was just a base for the turboed variants and a quick ECU flash away from generating incredible amounts of power and torque. A Skyline GT-R was, at the time, one of only two cars to have lapped the Nordschleife in less than eight minutes.
11. Mazda RX-7
Year: 1992
Engine: 1.3L Twin-Turbo Rotary
Power: 252-276 hp
Cool Fact: This was Japan's first twin-turbocharged export.
The third generation Mazda RX-7 is one of the best affordable sports cars ever made. It has a fantastic chassis, great handling, and an insane, screaming, sequentially twin-turbocharged rotary engine. Given that this was a car that the average guy could aspire to, it was nothing short of brilliant.
10. Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1
Year: 1990
Engine: 5.7L V8
Power: 375 hp
Cool Fact: The Bowling Green plant was incapable of producing the high-tech engines, so they were made elsewhere.
GM's purchase of Lotus seemed to have been an impulse buy. It's as if GM said, "OMG look at this really cool car company that's for sale," took it home, and then thought "what the hell am I going to do with this?" Also, yes, we do sometimes think of '80s and ''90s GM as a 19-year-old UCLA student with too high a credit limit; we're happy she's grown up now.
There is one fantastic thing that came out of that ill-fated purchase, however, and it was the 1990 Corvette ZR-1. The goal was to make the world's fastest production car and although it may have fallen a bit short of that goal, it was certainly one of the best all round sports cars money could buy at the time.
9. Ford Escort RS Cosworth
Year: 1992
Engine: Turbocharges 2.0L Cosworth I4
Power: 225 hp
Cool Fact: This was the first road car to produce downforce both in front and in back.
We really wish one could still go out and buy a homologated rally car. Yes, we do have the rally-ready Subaru WRX and Mitsubishi Lancer EVO, but they are tuned road cars, not road-going versions of proper race cars. The Escort RS Cosworth was a race car with a road car's interior, and it was bad ass.
8. Dodge Viper
Year: 1992
Engine: 8.0L V10
Power: 400 hp
Cool Fact: It had an unplanned debut as the Indy 500 pace car, because the UAW complained about the Japanese-built Dodge Stealth.
Yes, the infamous Viper was born in the '90s. It seemed like it was made out of equal parts brilliance and idiocy. It was fast, precise, and could tear up any race track in the world but it was also twitchy and seemingly on a constant quest to harm its drivers. If you didn't end up driving the damn thing into a tree, you would burn your calves on the exhaust pipes as you got out of the car. Regardless, you'd have a big smile on your face.
7. Toyota Supra
Year: 1992
Engine: 3.0L Twin-Turbo I6
Power: 276 hp
Cool Fact: The styling was designed to draw from the 2000GT without being retro.
The Supra could, at a fraction of the price, keep up with many of the supercars of its day, and this was before the inevitable tuning. There was so much unlocked potential in the Supra just begging to be unleashed. And thanks to Fast & Furious, even people who really weren't super interested in cars came to know the Supra as one badass street racer, thanks to Mr. Brian O'Conner.
6. Ferrari F50
Year: 1995
Engine: Tipo 040 4.7L V12
Power: 513 hp
Cool Fact: The F50 was Ferrari's 50th anniversary present to itself.
The F50 barely gets talked about these days. It's overshadowed both by the raw and pure experience of its predecessor, the F40, and the sheer excess and world-beating technology of its successor, the Enzo, but that doesn't mean that the F50 should fade into the background. In fact, it's basically every car enthusiast's dream car: It as a V12 lifted out of a race car, a stick and three pedals, Italian bodywork, and was not deadened with today's electronics.
5. Jaguar XJ200
Year: 1992
Engine: 3.5L Twin-Turbo V6
Power: 542 hp
Cool Fact: Originally the XJ220 was to be powered by a V12 that wouldn't pass emissions tests, so this V6 was lifted out of a race car.
Jaguar has spent the vast majority of its time building grand tourers and luxury sedans, but there was this one supercar that took hold of the record of fastest production car. It was praised for being not only incredibly fast, but also very stable and predictable at high speeds.
4. Mazda Miata
Year: 1990
Engine: 1.6L I4
Power: 115 hp
Cool Fact: The original Miata weighed only 2,100 lbs.
The Lotus Elan was great fun to drive but no fun to own, due to absolutely terrible reliability and wiring. What Mazda did was take what made the lightweight, British roadster a great thing and infused it with Japanese build quality throughout. To this day, the Miata has been one of the best sports cars money can buy.
3. Acura NSX
Year: 1990
Engine: 3.0L V6
Power: 300 hp
Cool Fact: The NSX was tuned by Ayrton Senna.
This car changed the supercar game. It used to be assumed that supercars were high strung and required a ton of maintenance and repair, but then Honda made this brilliant car that could keep pace with anything from Italy and was truly reliable; not reliable for a supercar either, just straight up reliable.
2. Lamborghini Diablo
Year: 1990
Engine: 5.7L or 6.0L V12
Power: 492-595 Horsepower
Cool Fact: Like most Lambos, it was named after a famed fighting bull from Spain.
This was the car you probably know from the toy or poster on your wall, if you liked the smell of high octane fuel as a child. It was insanely loud, insanely fast, insanely styled, and therefore appealed very much to the six-year-old in all of us.
1. McLaren F1
Year: 1992
Engine: 6.2L V12
Power: 618 hp
Cool Fact: To aid in heat dispersal, the engine bay is lined in 24k gold.
The McLaren F1 was engineered with a degree of precision and attention to detail that had never been seen before. McLaren built these things as precisely as any Formula 1 car, and with as much technical innovation. Everybody who has driven one says it accelerates like it's fleeing from an angry God, handles perfectly, and communicated every detail of the road to the driver. It might be perfect.